A federal jury on Tuesday awarded a total of $42 million to three Iraqi men who endured continuous torture at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison two decades ago –– holding a US government contractor accountable for engaging in and directing contributing to the abuse.

A federal jury on Tuesday found U.S. defense contractor CACI International liable for its role in torture at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad during the Iraq war and ordered it to pay $42 million in damages.

A US jury has awarded $42m (£33m) to three former detainees of Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, holding a Virginia-based defence contractor responsible for contributing to their abuse two decades ago.

The men had sued defense contractor CACI Premier Technology. Each was held at the Baghdad prison’s “hard site,” where CACI interrogators directed the men to be tortured, according to plaintiff filings in federal court.

Ejaili, a journalist now living in Sweden, Asa’ad Al-Zuba’e, a grocery store owner from Iraq, and Suhail Al Shimari, an Iraqi middle school principal who claim they were tortured at Abu Ghraib prison nearly 20 years ago.

In a landmark decision, a US defense contractor, CACI Premier Technology, has been ordered to pay $42 million in damages to three Iraqi men subjected